With Privacy Changes, Instagram Upsets Influencer Economy

SAN FRANCISCO, United States â€” Less than a week before Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg donned a suit to testify before the United States Congress, influencer monetisation platform Liketoknow.it sent an email to users: â€śAs of today, you will be able to shop Instagram content exclusively with a screenshot, as like-based shopping will no longer be supported due to changes in Facebook/Instagramâ€™s third-party access to likes.â€ť

It was a short message with big meaning.

The Instagram shopping service could no longer use the â€ślikesâ€ť on influencer posts to send registered users emails with associated product information and buy buttons. It was one of the unexpected repercussions from Instagram parent company Facebookâ€™s tightened privacy policy amid a cascade of criticism in the wake of the platformâ€™s Cambridge Analytica data privacy debacle. An April 4 announcement from Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer entitled â€śAn Update on Our Plans to Restrict Data Access on Facebookâ€ť mostly focused on changes to Facebook â€” including changes to how outside apps can access events, groups and pages â€” with just one sentence announcing a decision toÂ effectively shut down Instagramâ€™s existing application programming interface, or API.